E140B - Assignment 6

E140B Assignment 6
Socializing, Communication, and Power

You have probably already touched on various aspects of socialization and communication in previous journals. For this journal, you may choose to focus on one of the three themes below or a little of each.

Theme 1: Socialization and Startups

Over time every organization develops its own norms for how people interact socially during and after work. At some startups socializing is an integral and valued part of worklife, in other startups it isn't. Think about the following questions as you write about the "social" aspects of working at your particular startup:

Socializing during or after work -- Does is occur? Any specific routines? Who participates?
How do people "do" lunch in your startup? In groups or at their desk? Go out or eat in? What are the variety of lunch routines at your company?
How does the company "celebrate"? Are there regular parties or events? How are they conducted? How often? Where?

Key Question:
How do you think these social interactions influence the work and success of your startup? Too much, too little, just right? Anything you would change?

Theme 2: Communication Norms

So far many of the comments, discussion, and advice you've had about startups revolve around communication. In organizations people have many ways to communicate, and over time most startups develop norms about how people interact with each other to address and solve problems. Some companies mostly use e-mail, others voice-mail, some post messages to websites, others rely mostly on face-to-face interactions. Size, physical layout, hierarchy, and tradition all can influence communication patterns. Think about how communication happens in your startup, and discuss the following questions:

How would you characterize your startup -- are you mostly an e-mail company, face-to-face company, voice-mail company, memo-company, shouting-over -the-cubicles company?
What are the norms of communication in your startup? When do certain mediums seem more appropriate than others?
How does top management communicate with the troops?
What are your own "rules of thumb" about getting the information you need? When do you use e-mail, when do you use face-to-face, etc.?

Key Question:
What are the advantages and disadvantages of your startup's norms for communication? Overall is there too much communication, too little, or just right?

Theme 3: Power

Though these topics often make people uncomfortable, conflict, power, and politics are an important ingredient of good, fast decision-making, even in startups. The entrepreneur's challenge is finding an appropriate balance between too little and too much. An organization that has too little conflict (either because everyone has the same world view or because power dynamics squelch debate) may not explore enough options or risks to make a good decision. However, too much conflict - especially if it degenerates into interpersonal conflict - slows and hinders good decision-making and hurts the culture.

Same with power and politics. Though they are often portrayed as mostly negative, startups need some power and politics to quickly make the tough decisions needed to remain competitive, especially when information is uncertain and conflicting. Good leaders know when to deftly use power and persuasion to keep the organization moving forward. However, if there's too much power and politics soon political success becomes more important than business success, and the organization suffers.

Think about these three aspects of organizational decision-making, decide what you are comfortable discussing with the group and explore the following questions.

When the organization is making critical business decisions, does there appear to be little conflict and debate or a lot of it? Who gets involved? Does conflict stayed focused on the decision itself or does it get personal? Does it seem to help or hurt the decision?
Is the organization's power distribution representative of the official hierarchy, or do some people have significantly more power or influence than you would expect? Does it seem to make a difference?
Startups are often stereotyped as having little or no politics compared to big companies. Is that true in your startup? Or do you see some political behavior among top managers and co-workers?

Key Question:

With regard to organizational decision-making and culture, how would you evaluate your startup's amount of conflict, power and politics - too little, too much, just right? If you were the CEO, is there anything you would change about it?